Book Brings Ramadan to Life

Ramadan comes to life in this touching family story by San Francisco author Hassaun Ali Jones-Bey

“Why don’t Muslims celebrate Christmas?” asks a young girl of her father in the opening of Better Than A Thousand Months: An American Muslim Family Celebration.

The young girl is Nora Maryam, a child like so many Muslim children in America – inquisitive about the world around them and more aware than one might think of the cultural differences that exist in American society. The father is Hassaun Ali Jones-Bey, who is also the book’s author. He is not dissimilar to so many Muslim parents in America – eager to create nurturing environments for their children, answering the questions that help them learn and grow.

But what does one say when a child asks a question that strikes at the core of a family’s religious, social and cultural identity? Is it sufficient to give the most cursory of answers that will table the discussion to a later date or – in the case of some parents – to a later year? Or perhaps it is more appropriate to answer the child as fully and completely as one has the ability to do?

Jones-Bey takes up the challenge of his daughter’s query and chronicles his eloquent and appropriately contextualized response in Better Than A Thousand Nights.

The book’s title derives from Surah Al-Qadr (Chapter 97, Verses 1-5) of the Qur’an in which Allah (swt) says:

We have indeed revealed this (Message) in the Night of Power: And what will explain to thee what the night of power is? The Night of Power is better than a thousand months. Therein come down the angels and the Spirit by Allah's permission, on every errand: Peace!...This until the rise of morn!

With this passage as his foundation, Jones-Bey goes on to explain the meaning of Ramadan to his daughter. But more importantly, Jones-Bey, whether intentionally or unintentionally, creates a metaphor for Islam in America.

In answering his daughter, Jones-Bey answers the questions of the broader public in the West who, for the most part, have not had much personal contact with Islam and Muslims. Like children, many westerners have very innocent yet incisive queries about Islam, its customs and its tenets.

In the absence of creative, contextualized responses, people will arrive at misinformed conclusions about Islam. Jones-Bey stems the tide of misinformation by crafting a story that is at once familiar and educational for readers. He is an American Muslim, living in the San Francisco Bay Area, describing an encounter with which all parents can identify. In this way he breaks down barriers and brings Islam to life for Muslims and non-Muslims alike in this touching holiday story.